A rescue tug “Griffon” sailed from Vladivostok Sunday, bound for Japan. The vessel is on a rescue mission to evacuate Russian sailors, shipwrecked on a refrigerator ship cast ashore by a powerful, earthquake-generated tsunami wave.
Of the 15 sailors, 13 people were taken aboard a Japanese fishing vessel, they have no means of getting ashore. Two have been hospitalized. The “Griffon” will take on board the crew members and possibly tow the shipwrecked vessel to Vladivostok.